Students are often taught evolution isolated from genetic and cellular mechanisms. In reality, a complete understanding of evolution requires knowledge spanning many biological sub-disciplines and levels. To address this issue, the ConnectedBio project team (MSU, Concord Consortium) is developing a set of technology-enhanced lessons for high school biology that meet national science standards. This approach stands as a contrast and antidote to many approaches in biology education, which have often treated macro- and micro-biological concepts separately, resulting in learning of isolated processes rather than deep connections. We use the evolutionary phenomena from the previously developed Evo-Ed cases as the basis for the curriculum. As the primary postdoc on the project I have been involved in curriculum and technology development, teacher professional development, and science education research.

SPARCnet Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience

Salamanders are accessible to people of all ages, and they are a great topic for educators who teach about science, wildlife, and the environment. By working with K-12 teachers, environmental centers, and college/university faculty, SPARCnet works to advance our education initiatives. At the undergraduate level, I am the co-PI on a project to develop a Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience (SPARCnet-CURE) across five institutions. Two of our education modules are already available on our SPARCnet Education Resources site. I have also helped establish plots at local high schools in Michigan.

Evolution Education Curriculum

Evolution is central to the biological sciences and one of the four core concepts for undergraduate biological literacy identified by Vision and Change (AAAS 2011). Despite its importance, an agreed-upon set of learning objectives for undergraduate students has yet to be developed. I am leading a project to survey life science faculty in the United States about teaching evolution to undergraduate biology majors. By incorporating responses from a wide range of instructors and higher education institutions the learning objectives should be broadly applicable and serve as a guide for faculty and institutions. Furthermore, the resulting list of community-validated learning objectives will be submitted as part of CourseSource’s Learning Framework for the Evolution Course section, which is the only area lacking a learning framework at present. Overall, we will provide an update on the current status of teaching evolution at the undergraduate level.

I have also partnered with European collaborators as part of the EvoKE project to conduct similar research across European countries as part of a large COST Action grant.

Data Nuggets: Bringing Real Data into the Classroom

Data Nuggets are classroom activities, co-designed by scientists and science teachers, with an aim to help K-12 students practice interpreting quantitative information and making claims based on evidence. The current NSF project funds collaborative research between Michigan State University, where the Data Nuggets were created, and the BSCS Science Learning to study the effectiveness of Data Nuggets. The goals of this collaboration are to: 1. Expand the development of the current Data Nuggets educational resource to accentuate connections to the NGSS practices.​ 2. Develop a teacher professional development program for secondary teachers. 3. Test the efficacy of Data Nuggets using a powered experimental design in secondary science classrooms.

As part of the project I helped develop an observation protocol for science practices and co-led seminars and workshops to train scientists to make a Data Nugget using their own research and teachers to use existing Data Nuggets in their classrooms.